■ Lawmakers are trying to balance public openness and safety after Friday’s attack near the Capitol. 4A
Lawmakers seek balance between safety, access
WASHINGTON — Lawmakers are trying to balance openness with safety after Friday’s attack within steps of the Capitol — a challenge for Congress, nearly three months after a mob stormed the seat of American democracy, to “make it as secure as it needs to be but as free as we could possibly make it,” as one senator said Sunday.
The sprawling complex has been ringed by security fencing and National Guard troops since the deadly Jan. 6 riot, when supporters of then-president Donald Trump breached the Capitol as members of Congress were certifying Joe Biden’s election victory.
Friday’s attack, now believed to be an isolated incident by a disturbed man, came just weeks after the outermost layer of fencing was removed and the military’s footprint was reduced at the Capitol. The man rammed a car into two officers at a barricade outside the Capitol, killing one of them before he was shot to death by police.
“I think the Capitol has always been a target. … We need to be aware of that,” said Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt, the top Republican on the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, which oversees that chamber’s side of the Capitol.
He told ABC’S “This Week” that the Capitol is “an important element of who we are. It’s an important symbol of who we are. And we need to keep that in mind with every decision we make.”
Retired Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré, who was tapped by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-calif., to undertake a security review of the Capitol following the insurrection in January, said it was clear the building had become a greater target.
His task force recommended steps to Congress to bolster the complex’s physical security, including hiring hundreds more police officers, hardening entrances, enhancing its surveillance system and developing plans for quickly deployable fencing. But he indicated on Sunday that large-scale permanent fencing was unlikely.
He said that after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, 250 National Guard “stayed at the Capitol for two years. And we may look forward to seeing that happen again.”